VIDEOS
1. Former American Soldiers in Ukraine Discuss the Hottest Topics of the Russian Invasion
UNITED24
536K subscribers
8-11-2023 Streamed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNjYWS8M6c4
2. Ukraine launches missile attack on Kerch Bridge, Crimea - Russians claim they were shot down
The Telegraph
4.44M subscribers
8-12-2023 7:00 a.m. EDT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDl7s2Szxqs
Ukraine has targeted the Kerch Bridge in a rare daytime missile attack on the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow claims was shot down before causing any damage.
Videos circulating social media show two columns of smoke rising around the bridge. The Telegraph was not immediately able to verify whether the bridge had been damaged.
“Air defense forces shot down two enemy missiles over the Kerch Strait. The Crimean bridge was not damaged,” Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of the Crimean peninsula, posted on Telegram. Aksyonov’s adviser claimed that the billows of smoke were a “cover” created by rescue services.
Meanwhile, the Russian defense ministry said that Ukraine had tried to strike the bridge using S-200 anti-aircraft rockets.
The attack is believed to be the first time that the Kerch Bridge has been targeted in the daytime, and came just hours after the Russian defense ministry claimed that they had downed 20 drones targeting the occupied-Crimean peninsula early on Saturday.
Correspondents at the Wall Street Journal and Kyiv Post have shared videos on X, formerly Twitter.
The Russian defense ministry this morning claimed that they had downed 20 drones targeting the occupied-Crimean peninsula early on Saturday.
In a statement released on Telegram, the ministry said that 14 of the drones were shot down and the other six were electronically jammed.
There were no reported casualties or damage and it was not immediately clear what the drone attack was trying to target.
According to reports online, explosions were heard in the Novooozerne area. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the Novooozerne area is home to a large military storage base.
The drone attack caused further disruption to bridges in the Crimean peninsula and again halted traffic on the Kerch – or Crimean – Bridge for two hours between 1:30 and 3:30 am.
There has been a significant uptick in drone warfare from both warring countries, but a significant rise in the number of drones attacking Russian territory. Kyiv appears to have made it a matter of policy to not publicly comment on the attacks heading toward Russia.
Continue reading updates: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-new...
ARTICLE
In six months Prigozhin will either be dead, or there will be a second coup – Bellingcat Head
Ukrainska Pravda
Saturday, 12 August 2023, 03:44
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/12/7415264/
Investigative journalist Christo Grozev from Bellingcat predicts that in half a year, either Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner Group, “will be dead,” or “there will be a second coup” in Russia.
SOURCE: Grozev in an interview with the Financial Times
QUOTE:
“Putin... called Prigozhin a traitor.
Everyone knows what they do with ‘traitors’ and Putin hasn’t done that.
He [Putin – ed.] wants to see him [Prigozhin – ed.] dead.
He can’t do that yet.
In six months Prigozhin will either be dead or there will be a second coup.”
DETAILS:
Grozev also said that he does not think that any part of the Russian elite, with the exception of the military-industrial complex, sees the sense in the Russian war against Ukraine.
In his opinion, “they’re not speaking out” because of a “prisoner’s dilemma”.
The investigator, answering a question, commented on the possible overthrow of Putin: “It could go one of two ways.
Either the prisoner’s dilemma can be broken, or they will just get rid of him through a better co-ordinated coup.
You don’t have that yet among the oligarchs, or with any of the ministers, or the FSB [Russia’s security service – FT].
But it is unpalatable for the rest of the elite to live in a North Korea 2.1 [because of the sanctions imposed against Russia – ed.] with their bank accounts frozen.
Other triggers could happen. Say a reversal of fortunes on the frontline.”
BACKGROUND:
• On the evening of 23 June, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, said that the Russian regular army had launched a missile strike on the rear mercenary camps, and because of this, 25,000 mercenaries of Prigozhin were allegedly going to “restore justice”.
• On the morning of June 24, Prigozhin claimed that he took control of the military facilities of Rostov-On-Don, including an airfield; after that Prigozhin said they were “heading for Moscow”, and that his soldiers shot down three Russian helicopters. Wagner Private Military Company mercenaries also seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin in an emergency address said that Russia is “fighting for survival”, and that there are attempts to “organise a rebellion” in the country.
• The Office of the President of the Russian Federation anticipated that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group fighters would likely reach Moscow’s outskirts in just a few hours, with fighting expected near Russia’s capital. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Vladimir Putin urgently left Moscow for his residence in Valdai. A convoy of Wagner Group forces was spotted 400 kilometres from Moscow.
• On Saturday evening, after a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Prigozhin said that his mercenaries were turning their convoys around and going in the opposite direction to set up field camps. The criminal case against Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was to be closed and he would “go to Belarus”.